


Coven

by naomin



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen, Multi, Witches
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-08-14
Updated: 2014-08-14
Packaged: 2018-02-13 02:18:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,727
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2133378
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/naomin/pseuds/naomin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Accused of witchcraft, Eren must face a trial and near-certain death.  Unbeknownst to him, others with powers of their own have different plans.</p><p>(Salem witch trials-inspired AU, repost of a kink meme fill.  Also contains very minor Reibert and Yumikuri.  Spoilers if you only know the anime.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Coven

“Almost there,” said Reiner.  
  
It was after midnight. The woods were empty and still, perfectly silent except for the light sound of footsteps over the grass and underbrush. There was no moon in the sky, and the only light came from the lantern Reiner held out before him as he lead the small procession through the trees.  
  
Bertolt followed just behind him, face solemn. Trailing behind the two boys, Ymir walked with her hands shoved into her pockets. Every few minutes she glanced around restlessly, peering out into the blackness outside of the light cast by the lantern.  
  
“What exactly is this thing you wanted to show me, again?”  
  
Bertolt started at the sound of Ymir’s voice, shoulders jerking up almost to his ears. “You’ll see in a few minutes,” Reiner answered without looking back.  
  
“Huh,” Ymir snorted. “Just wondering what we’re doing all the way out here, especially at this time of night. _Especially_ with all the things they say are lurking out here these days. Animals, evil spirits...”  
  
She kicked at a pine cone on the ground, sending it rolling off into the dark. “…Witches, even.”  
  
Ahead of Ymir, both boys came to a stop. The lantern swung, casting wild shadows over the trees as Reiner turned to face her. His face was stony, jaw clenched tightly. Ymir met his gaze unflinchingly. With the sound of footsteps gone, the forest was as silent as death.  
  
“Look,” Bertolt spoke up, after a long moment had passed. He touched Reiner’s shoulder, pointing through the trees with his other hand. “It’s right over there, let’s go.” His voice was just a little too eager. A few beads of sweat stood out on his forehead, glistening in the lantern’s light.  
  
Reiner jerked his head in terse nod of agreement, turning back to the path. Bertolt followed, shoulders slumping in relief, and after a few seconds Ymir did the same.  
  
The trees parted after only a few more yards, revealing a small cabin. It was almost a shed, really, small and run-down. Maybe once it had been a home for a single person, or a place for hunters to find shelter, but it had been a long time since anyone from the village cared to venture so far into the woods, and now the windows were dark and coated with a thick layer of cobwebs and dust. It looked as though someone had tried to nail boards over the front door, but the wood came away easily when Reiner pulled at them, not even needing to use both hands.  
  
Reiner passed the lantern to Bertolt, who accepted it wordlessly with an ease that indicated a ritual the two had repeated many times before. Bertolt held the lantern low, making sure that Reiner had enough light to undo the rusty lock holding the door closed with a key he pulled from his pocket. Ymir watched them silently, frowning.  
  
The door swung open with a creak, revealing a single room. It was simply furnished, containing only a table, one chair, and a bed. The inside of the cabin was small enough that it was lit well by the lantern, which Bertolt set down on the table, and the ceiling was so low that both he and Reiner came close to having to hunch over.  
  
Ymir gave the room a quick, unimpressed glance, and then let out a burst of laughter, the sound harsh and almost blasphemously noisy in the still air. “This is it?” she demanded. “What is it, your little _love nest_ or something?” She gave Bertolt a jab in the side with her elbow, still smirking. “Well, thanks, maybe I’ll take Krista out here sometime, or at least I would if it wasn’t so filthy in here…”  
  
She trailed off, expression growing serious again as she watched Bertolt. Normally, the awkward boy would have been flustered to be teased in such a way, but now there was no sign that he had even heard her. Bertolt’s gaze was fixed ahead, brow furrowed and shoulders rigid with tension.  
  
Ymir followed his gaze, looking once again at the bed. It was covered with a rough blanket, which was bunched up in a way that had looked like simple messiness at first, but now…  
  
There was someone on the bed.  
  
Ymir took a step back, swinging around to give both Reiner and Bertolt a disbelieving look. Bertolt had begun to wring his hands, nervous gaze fixed on the small form concealed by the blanket. Only Reiner looked back at Ymir. He seemed calm, but there was something hard in his eyes, a shadow of the way he had looked at her back in the woods minutes earlier.  
  
“Take a look,” he said simply.  
  
Ymir’s gaze flitted from Reiner to the door, as if contemplating her options, and then she cursed under her breath, rolling her eyes impatiently in a way that almost distracted from the sweat that had started to form on her own brow.  
  
“I should never have agreed to this,” she muttered, pacing over to the bed in a few quick steps. She grabbed the edge of the blanket at the head of the bed with one hand, and yanked it back as if pulling a bandage away from a half-healed wound.  
  
What was underneath wasn’t really a surprise, not by then, but the breath Ymir let out was still close enough to a gasp that it would have embarrassed her under different circumstances.  
  
“Hello, Annie,” said Bertolt, voice quiet and a little wistful.

At a glance, the girl lying on the bed with her eyes closed peacefully could have been mistaken for a sleeping person. But her chest was still, without the slightest hint of breath, and she seemed undisturbed by the voices of the other three. Not to mention the fact that Annie Leonhart had been declared dead more than a month earlier.  
  
“What the _hell?_ ” Ymir dropped the blanket, staring down at Annie with disturbed fascination.  
  
“She’s not dead,” Reiner said. He, too, was gazing at Annie, an unreadable expression on his face.  
  
“Of course she’s dead!” Ymir protested. “She’s not _breathing_ , what are you-“ Her voice trailed off as she noticed something else about the still form on the bed. Annie was cold, far colder than even a corpse. Ymir brought one hand up to tap gingerly at Annie’s pale cheek. Her skin felt smooth and unnaturally hard, as if she was no more than a statue of marble or ice.  
  
Ymir slowly turned to face Reiner and Bertolt. Her initial shock had faded, replaced by a look of wariness. “I think it’s time for you two to tell me what’s going on.”  
  
The two boys exchanged glances. Reiner’s mouth pulled back into a bitter line, but it was Bertolt who spoke first.  
  
“We didn’t know she could do it,” he said softly. He reached down to brush a strand of limp blonde hair back from Annie’s face, letting his hand linger briefly against her frozen skin. “We’d seen her use her powers before…”  
  
Ymir straightened, eyeing him intently.  
  
“But never like this,” the tall boy continued. “We didn’t realize that they had found out about her until it was too late, until they were already talking about - about getting the scaffold ready.” His expression darkened, and he took a deep breath. “And then they said she had died...”  
  
“…In the jail.” Ymir finished. The news had spread throughout the village in nervous whispers weeks earlier: the story of how the strange loner had been suddenly revealed to be a witch, and then had died just as quickly while awaiting execution. It had been justice from heaven, many had said at the time.  
  
“They even buried her.” Reiner spoke now. “Just a hole outside the village, you know how it goes...Bert and I – we didn’t just want to leave her like that, but when we went to put her some place better-“  
  
“You dug her up!?” Ymir interrupted incredulously, making a face.  
  
Reiner ignored her. “And then we realized that it was…it was something she had done. So we moved her out here, until she comes back.”  
  
Ymir cast a skeptical eye at Annie’s stiff body. “She’s going to come back.” Bertolt insisted, answering her unspoken doubt.  
  
His words were met with rolled eyes. Ymir was making a show of being unbothered by the scene before her, but her body was tense and her gaze flickered between the two boys and the cabin’s door. “And what does this have to do with me?”  
  
“I think you know.” Reiner looked her evenly in the eyes.  
  
Ymir stared back warningly. “Not sure I do.”  
  
“We all have to stick together.” Bertolt said, voice soft. “Now more than ever.”  
  
“And what if I don’t want anything to do with you three?”  
  
“Four,” Reiner corrected. “Now there’s Eren.”  
  
Ymir grimaced. “Oh no. I’m _really_ not going anywhere near that mess.” She started towards the door, waving one hand dismissively. “Thanks for showing me your place, have fun getting killed. Goodnight.”  
  
Just as she started to pull the door open it slammed shut again, so suddenly that the handle was jerked out of her grasp. Ymir spun around, eyes fixed on Reiner once again. His brow was furrowed in both annoyance and frustration, and his hands were curled into fists at his sides.  
  
Ymir turned to put her back defensively against the wall, eyes narrowing. The flame in the lantern on the table had begun to flicker wildly, as if battered by a strong wind.  
  
Suddenly an unearthly wave of pressure fell over everything, heavy and crushing. Ymir was caught off-guard and forced to the ground, sliding down against the wall to sit on the floor. Reiner was on his knees on the other side of the room,. The lantern went out.  
  
“Don’t fight.” There was a short hissing sound, and then the lantern was lit once more, illuminating the look of reproach Bertolt gave the other two. “We need to stick together, I _said_.” He glanced down at his friend, expression turning apologetic. “Sorry, Reiner.” The other boy grunted in acknowledgement, slowly getting back to his feet. Ymir did the same, wiping a bead of sweat away from her face.  
  
“All right,” Ymir said at last. “What are you going to do? Eren fucked up, he couldn’t keep it hidden, and now he’ll get the noose, unless he can convince them that it’s actually somebody else’s fault. Some other _witch_ that made him do it.” Her mouth pulled into a tight line. “I don’t know about you, but I’m not about to give him the chance to point a finger my way.”  
  
“So you’d let them kill him?” Reiner asked.  
  
“I protect myself.” Ymir snapped. “ _That’s_ how I’ve made it this far, not your ‘stick together’ shit.”  
  
Uneasy silence for a moment. “Eren’s important.” Bertolt said at last. “There’s something we need him for. It could end up helping you, too.”  
  
“Really,” Ymir replied, flatly unconvinced.  
  
“And it could be pretty _unhelpful_ if you aren’t with us.” Reiner’s voice was a low rumble.  
  
Ymir looked from one boy to the other, and then down at Annie, unmoving and serene on the bed. She sighed. It would be a long night. 

  
-

 

The town was small enough that that there had always been hardly any need for a prison, even during the unrest that began when the monsters first appeared in the woods ten years ago. What there was instead was a dark and filthy space, practically more of a hole than anything else, under the building that served as both church and courthouse, and it was here that Eren had been kept in chains for almost a week.  
  
It was cold during the day, and worse at night. Eren’s clothes were close to rags after days of foul conditions and rough treatment, leaving him with little protection against the chilly air that drifted through his cell’s lone window, a narrow opening high on the wall. For the first few days of his captivity, curious villagers on the streets outside had bent down to peer at Eren through the little window, eager to catch a glimpse of the so-called witch who had hidden in their midst.  
  
Now a shadow fell over Eren’s cell as the light from the window was blocked once more.  
  
“Eren?”  
  
He’d grown used to the gawkers by now, but the sound of a familiar voice had Eren’s head snapping up to stare at the window.  
  
“Sasha!”  
  
The girl made a shushing gesture, gaze flicking nervously from side to side. Eren could have told her not to bother worrying, that it was still too early for most people to be about and that the men charged with guarding him had been showing up less and less as the days passed and the so-called witch they were tasked with had failed to seem like anything more than a skinny teenage boy. But right now, there was something more urgent on his mind.  
  
“Are they all right? Mikasa, and Armin-“  
  
“They’re both fine,” Sasha said, voice just loud enough to be heard from the other side of the cell. Eren slumped, limp with relief. Worry about his friends had gnawed at the back of his mind even during the most dire moments of the past several days.  
  
“Mikasa’s beside herself,” Sasha continued. “She wanted to come break you out of here single-handedly, it took forever to convince her that it wouldn’t do you any good if _both_ of you were in trouble.”  
  
“She never changes.” Eren found that he could smile a little, even after days spent in a miserable cell with an icy metal cuff around his foot chaining him to the floor.  
  
“She wanted to come see you, at least, but I told her that even that might be risky. Since everybody knows that you two grew up together, they could turn on her, too, if they thought that she was…” Sasha trailed off uneasily.  
  
It took a second for Eren to fully understand, the idea seemed so foreign to him. “Mikasa’s not a witch!”  
  
“I know, _shhh!_ ” Sasha hissed, glancing around again. When she relaxed, apparently confident that anybody else awake at such an early hour had yet to notice the girl crouched next to the window that opened into the village’s makeshift prison, she turned her attention back to Eren, voice low and deadly serious. “I _know_ ,” she said again. “That’s what she told me and Connie and the others – and we all believe her –“ The last part was added hurriedly, cutting Eren off before he could open his mouth again. “But you _know_ what it’s like around here these days, especially after what happened with Annie.”  
  
Eren nodded unhappily. He could remember just as well as anybody else the wave of horror and paranoia that had swept through the village when they all had realized that monsters lurked not just in the shadows of the forest but inside the village as well, disguised as something familiar and human. And he could remember how shocked he had been that it had been _Annie_ , that the girl had been not just cold and more than a little odd, but a witch. And then Annie had been gone almost as soon as she had been discovered, dead in her cell before she could face the trial that would unquestionably have ended with her execution.  
  
 _The same thing that could be waiting for you._ The thought had been lurking in the back of Eren’s mind this entire time, despite his efforts to avoid it, because what other end could there possibly be for a boy with no family and few friends accused of witchcraft?  
  
Especially when even Eren himself couldn't deny that the accusations seemed to be entirely true.  
  
“Tell Mikasa not to worry,” he ordered Sasha. “I'll be fine, I'm sure of it.”  
  
The words were ridiculously empty, and it was clear that Sasha believed them no more than Eren did. She wasn’t looking him in the eye anymore. A grim silence filled the cold air of the cell.  
  
“I wanted to thank you,” Sasha said suddenly. Eren stared up at her in surprise.  
  
“ _Thank_ me?”  
  
Sasha nodded, meeting his gaze again now. “That day in the forest. You saved all our lives, even though it meant…revealing yourself.”  
  
“I wasn’t thinking about that,” Eren said, feeling weary and slightly bitter. He repeated the words he had said so many times by now that they came to his lips almost automatically, even though they always failed to do him any good. “I don’t know what happened or how I did it. I can barely even _remember_ what happened, I just knew that I wanted to protect everybody and then…”  
  
“Well, none of us could believe it,” Sasha said. “All this time knowing you, and suddenly you’ve got these…these _powers_ , like- like some kind of monster…”  
  
“I’m not a monster,” Eren said loudly. Sasha had the grace to look guilty, even though Eren’s heart clenched at the hint of skepticism he could see in her eyes.  
  
“How are they treating you?” Sasha asked him at last, looking rather eager to change the subject. She narrowed her eyes as if trying to get a clearer look at Eren’s conditions. “You look terrible.”  
  
Eren shrugged. “It’s not so bad. They tried to torture me at first – _don’t_ tell Mikasa that – but only for the first few days. And even then…” He held up his hands, hoping the light was good enough for her to make out his dirty but unmarked skin. “It healed right away. I don’t know how, I guess it has something to do with…with everything else.”  
  
Sasha nodded, almost but not quite hiding the unsettled look that flitted across her face at this.  
  
“Well, the others will be happy to hear that,” she said. “Everybody’s worried about you, Eren, nobody who was actually there that day thinks you’re bad, even…” She trailed off awkwardly.  
  
“Even if I'm a witch.”  
  
Sasha grimaced. “Anyway, we’re all trying to think of some way we can make sure nothing happens to you, and Armin, too…”  
  
Eren blinked. For a second, he wondered if he had heard her correctly. “Armin? Why Armin?”

Sasha’s mouth snapped shut. She was looking guilty again. “Nothing!” she said at last, a look of cheeriness plastered over her face that was so obviously forced that it sent a shot of fear like a lighting bolt down Eren’s spine.  
  
“What’s wrong with Armin?” Eren asked. Sasha gulped, and for a second he was terrified that she was about to leave him in order to avoid the direction this conversation had taken. “ _Sasha_ ,” he insisted. “ _Please_ , did something happen to him? They said that everyone who was in the forest with me that day was fine!”  
  
“Nothing happened to Armin back then.” Eren almost slumped in relief, but the look on Sasha’s face stopped him in his tracks. “He survived like everybody else, thanks to you, but…”  
  
Eren’s hands were clenched into fists, nervous energy flooding his body. “But what?”  
  
“Well, remember how I said that Mikasa has to be careful right now, in case people think she’s a witch too?”  
  
Eren frowned, uncomprehending. “But Armin doesn’t have anything to do with my family! He’s just my friend, there’s no way anybody would think that he-“  
  
“It’s _Armin’s_ family that’s the problem,” Sasha cut in. “Everybody knew his parents were heretics, even before this all began.”  
  
The meaning of Sasha’s words was slowly sinking in, as much as Eren hated to accept what she was saying. “Nobody would believe that _Armin_ is a witch,” he insisted. “Right?”  
  
Sasha had fallen uncomfortably silent again. “ _Right?_ ” Eren repeated. He was trying to keep his voice as calm – really, there was no need to get upset, he reminded himself, since what Sasha seemed to be suggesting was so completely _bizarre_ – but already he could feel his hands clenched tightly, and it wasn’t until he heard the sharp sound of metal on metal that Eren realized he had stepped forwards as far as his chains would allow.  
  
“Look, I didn’t want to make you upset, I just wanted to tell you to stay _calm_ , Eren.”  
  
“ _Calm?_ ”  
  
“Yes,” Sasha hissed. “Don’t do anything that would make this situation even worse, and…and we’ll figure something out, I promise. Nobody’s going to let you-“ Her voice cut off. Behind Sasha, Eren could just make out another pair of legs.”  
  
“Oh, hello!” Eren heard Sasha say as she got to her feet, rising out of Eren’s field of vision. Her voice was suddenly pointedly cheerful.  
  
“What are you doing?” It was a deep male voice that Eren wasn’t quite sure if he recognized or not. All of his guards had begun to blend together as the days in prison had dragged on. “Nobody’s supposed to be out here.”  
  
“I was just on my way to the forest,” Sasha replied brightly. “Never too early to get started hunting.”  
  
The unfamiliar pair of feet shifted. “Really?” The man sounded unconvinced. “And what part of that involves hanging around a witch?”  
  
There was a pause that seemed to drag out forever. _Come on, Sasha_ , Eren thought, still straining at his chains, _say something, think of a good excuse…_  
  
“I just…just wanted to look!” Sasha said finally. From her tone, Eren could imagine the look of wide-eyed innocence that was surely plastered across her face as she spoke. “I’ve never seen a real witch before, and I thought-“  
  
“No good person should be curious about an unholy creature like that,” the man interrupted. His voice was still severe, but to Eren’s relief it sounded as if he had accepted Sasha’s explanation.  
  
The feeling lasted only until the man’s next words: “And if you’re so interested, you’ll get a chance to see him tomorrow like everybody else.”  
  
“Tomorrow?” Sasha’s voice was a little too loud for someone who was supposed to be talking to a person only a few feet away, but if it was for Eren’s benefit, she needn’t have bothered. Every hair on Eren’s body felt as if it was standing on end as he strained to make out the man’s answer.  
  
“Tomorrow, when the witch goes on trial. And then straight to hell where he belongs.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so, something a little different from me, maybe!! This idea caught my eye and a ton of AU parallels for canon things popped into my head, so I gave it a shot. The corresponding manga events will be, (very) roughly, Eren's trial + the BRA trio reveals squished together.
> 
> The next (and probably final) part will contain the actual trial, as well as some more explanation of the witch stuff. I know more or less how I want things to go, but if anybody has anything they'd like to see within this AU, let me know in the comments or [on tumblr](http://the-naomin.tumblr.com) and I might be able to work it in as long as it doesn't contradict anything I have planned already!


End file.
